


Waking Nightmares

by then00breturns1101



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: (for season 1 at least), AND SWEET, Catra (She-Ra) Redemption, F/F, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Lack of Communication, Nightmares, Post-Canon, catra is salty, followed by good communication, glimmer and bow are good friends, very mild angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-07
Updated: 2019-02-07
Packaged: 2019-10-23 17:15:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17687597
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/then00breturns1101/pseuds/then00breturns1101
Summary: Adora's past returns to haunt her, with a new familiar face. Her friends see through her attempts to fool them. But what happens when one of them is the hauntee?





	Waking Nightmares

**Author's Note:**

> OKAY SO this has been sitting in the notes of my phone for months and i finally finished and published it so here y'all go

Adora jolted awake, sweating and gasping for air in the cool night. Her eyes darted around the room before they landed on a sleeping figure at the door of her bed, and she felt her tense muscles relax.

_She’s okay._

But she was also awake.

Catra stirred, blinking her eyes open and stretching before looking at Adora.

“Nightmare?” Her voice was raspy and soft.

“Yeah. Sorry for waking you up,” Adora whispered. “You can go back to sleep if you want.

“Nah, I’m okay. What was it about?” She sat up, turning to face her.

Adora was about to start talking when the memories of the dream hit her like a tank. She almost flinched at the movement of Catra shifting position.

“...Shadow Weaver. A-and the Horde. They attacked.”

Catra laughed softly, but there was no harm behind it.

“Lucky for you, Princess, nobody’s attacking. Go back to sleep or you’re gonna fall asleep in your soup again.”

“That was  _one time.”_

“One time so far.” Catra crawled up beside Adora to cuddle against her, and Adora wrapped her arms around her in a hug.

...It hadn’t been Shadow Weaver.

 

* * *

 

 

They got worse. Adora kept the sword on her at all times, but felt a flood of anxiety whenever she touched it. Seeing Catra express nearly any emotion at all— anger, sadness, even her normal blasé expression— would set her on edge. Sudden movements made her flinch.

She started avoiding Catra during the day and lying at night.

Through it all, she couldn’t tell if Catra didn’t know she was lying, or if she pretended not to. She didn’t know which one would be worse.

 

* * *

 

“Adora has been acting  _weird_ lately, don’t you think?” Bow brought up one night, talking with Glimmer as they sat by the water.

“Oh, so it’s not just me!” she responded, turning to him. “I kept asking her what was wrong, but she’d never say anything!”

“Yeah, same here... I’m really worried.” Bow’s eyes skimmed over the clear waters of the palace river.

“She’s been avoiding us, too. She  _only_ does that when she’s upset.”

“Yep.”

“She’s even avoiding  _Catra!”_

Bow’s head shot up in surprise. “Wait, what??”

“Yeah, she’s coming up with all these excuses to train and stuff so she doesn’t have to talk to everyone. And Catra’s been super mopey.”

“Catra’s always mopey,” Bow commented. “Besides, I thought you didn’t like her?”

“I don’t. This doesn’t change it.” She chose to ignore the skeptical look her friend gave her. “I’m just saying, she’s acting weird and  _someone_  has got to intervene.”

“Well, when someone has to intervene, it’s always us, isn’t it?”

“Well,  _duh!_ ” she laughed, throwing her hands up. “You really think those dummies are gonna work out their issues by themselves?”

“Yeah... no. Adora’s a lotta things, but... I wouldn’t call ‘emotionally healthy’ one of them.” Bow winced. He and Glimmer had spent ages trying to get her to open up, but she tended to keep everything as hidden as possible.

Especially about Catra.

“So!” His voice regained a cheerful demeanor. “What are we waiting for? We’ve gotta get our friends to sort their baggage out.”

“Yep!” Glimmer stood up before processing what Bow had said. “But Catra’s  _not_  my friend. _”_

Bow stood up, shrugging. “Sure, whatever you say.”

 

* * *

 

 

Catra sat against the trunk of a tree, tail dangling from her branch. She could practically count on one hand the words Adora had spoken to her today.

It shouldn’t have hurt, but it did. Didn’t Adora  _want_  her back? Didn’t she  _want_  to talk to her?  _Want_  to stay?

 _She got bored of you_.  _Of course she did._

_She left you once, nothing’s stopping her from leaving again. She’ll never keep her promises, you know that, when will you learn—_

She waved away the thoughts with a flick of her ears, but they lingered, clinging to her mind like water on her fur.

Eventually, as much as she tried to keep her mind blank, it wandered out of her control.  _Does she even notice I’m different? Does she think I don’t notice_ her _? Has she forgotten everything? Her promise?_ Our _promise? She did once, couldn’t she do it again? She left me behind. She left. She’s going to—_

“HEY CATRA!”

The shout knocked Catra out of her thoughts and startled her so badly, she almost fell out of the tree, scrabbling for grip and clambering back up. Her tail lashed in annoyance when she saw who awaited below.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to scare you! You just... couldn’t really hear us!” Bow explained, stifling laughter. Glimmer had less success.

“You stuck up there?” she shouted amidst giggles. Catra scowled.

“I am  _not_  stuck. I’m sitting. And I happened to be  _very_  comfortable before you two almost made me fall out. _”_  She huffed and brought her tail back up to rest on the branch. “What do you two want, anyways? I thought you were with Adora.”

“Actually, that’s what we wanted to talk to you about,” Bow called up. This was really inconvenient. “Could you come down so we can talk more easily?”

Catra rolled her eyes and climbed down to the lowest branch, still at least a foot over their heads.

“Better?”

Glimmer frowned, but Bow smiled encouragingly.

“Yep! So, uh... we’ve noticed something’s up with Adora. You know anything about it?”

At this, Catra’s ears turned forward in surprise, though she kept her poker face. “So she’s not with you? Huh, I thought she would be.”

“Well, we thought she’d be with you. But you were moping around alone all the time, so she must not be,” Glimmer explained. Catra’s tail lashed.

“I was  _not_  moping.”

“Sure you aren’t.”

“Anyways!” interjected Bow, breaking up the bickering. “We’re gonna figure out what’s going on with her. And we need your help.”

“Why? Couldn’t you just do it with your colorful glittery friendship powers?”

Glimmer rolled her eyes and Bow continued. “Well, you  _have_  known her the longest.”

Catra muttered something that neither of them caught before jumping down with a huff.

“Fine. I’m in. Let’s drag this out of her.”

 

* * *

 

 

Before bed that night, Glimmer and Bow caught Adora in the halls, trying unsuccessfully to get past her facade of being fine. When she did finally get to her room, Catra was there waiting.

“Hey Adora,” she smirked, sitting on the bed. "How’ve you been?”

“Oh, uh... sorry. I haven’t been here much... just training and stuff. In case there’s an attack.” She rubbed the back of her neck, hoping the lie would be believable enough. By the look of Catra’s deadpan expression, it was not.

“Sure. Training without any of us.” She rolled her eyes, walking towards Adora. “Come on, Princess, you can’t seriously think we’re  _that_  stupid.”

“I—”

“Nope. Not hearing it. We’re going to talk. Right here, right now, about what the hell is going on with your feelings.”

Adora couldn’t help but laugh. “When did _you_ get so emotionally in tune?”

“When Bow gave me a half-hour lecture on it.” She raised an eyebrow at Adora. “Well? That’s your cue to go on a whole sappy spiel about what’s on your mind.”

“...Can I at least get into pajamas first?” she smiled sheepishly, giving Catra her “ _please don’t question this”_ face. The other girl sighed.

“You’re stalling,” she deadpanned, tail flicking, “but yes. Go get into pajamas.”

Adora nodded and slipped into the bathroom to change. Catra sat back on the bed, ears pressed back into her messy hair.  _I shouldn’t be nervous about this. It’ll be fine. She’s probably just nervous about the Horde or some shit like that._ She wiped the anxious expression off her face and sat up when she heard Adora coming out. _She_ looked even more anxious, fidgeting with her hands as she sat on the bed.

The silence was heavy and awkward. Catra hated it.

“So,” she began, trying to break it. “This is about those nightmares you’ve been having, isn’t it?”

Adora sighed and nodded, looking away.

“You know that... we’re out, right? We’re out of the Fright Zone. Shadow Weaver is gone.” Catra felt like she was reassuring herself more than Adora, now.

“...It’s not that,” Adora sighed. “I...”

“...You....?”

“I lied,” she confessed, eyes fixed on the floor. Catra didn’t have the time to interject before Adora finally tore her gaze towards her. “The nightmares weren’t about the Fright Zone. They were...” Adora paused, her eyes trying to find anywhere except Catra’s face to rest.

“They were about you.”

 

Catra felt her heart skip a beat and seriously considered climbing out the window right then and there. Seeing her expression, Adora quickly corrected herself.

“It’s not— not in the way you think! It’s just that you’re... always there. And something always  _happens._ ”

“What... do you mean?” Catra was trying hard to steady her voice.

“I mean that something always happens to you. It’s always bad. Sometimes you kill me, sometimes I kill you...” she looks away, gripping her arms. Scars from past battles marred the pale skin. Scars, Catra thought with a sickening jolt, that her own claws had inflicted.

“All the things I’m afraid of. And every time, I fail you. I fail you, so you get killed by Shadow Weaver. I fail you, and you kill me for it. I fail you, and myself, and I... end up killing you.”

Adora’s voice went thin, and Catra’s heart broke. “I... I give you nightmares?” she asked, already knowing the answer. “Is that why you’ve been avoiding—”

“No, Catra, no, I... it’s not you. It’s me. I’m just scared.”

“Scared that I’m going to kill you! I mean, I— it’s not like you don’t have reasons, I almost...” her voice gave out as she recalled the incident in the First Ones ruin.

She had had no way of knowing that Adora would’ve somehow survived.

When she cut the webbing, she’d had every intention of killing Adora. The thought made her want to throw up.

As her breathing hitched, she was shaken out of her memories by a warm hug.

“Cat, it’s okay. It’s okay,” Adora whispered, running a hand through Catra’s tangled hair. “I know. We’re safe now.”

Catra hugged her back, tears threatening to spill.

“I can’t always explain what I’m... afraid of. I just don’t want anything to happen to you.” She sighed, holding her closer. “I’ve already messed up so bad. I just want things to be okay.”

Catra rasped out a muffled, snarky laugh. “What part of hiding from everyone and refusing to talk to your friends counts as okay?”

“...You got me there,” she smiled, and Catra pulled back from the hug.

“Look,” she said, “you’re the leader of this rebellion. You’ve got to keep it together, or everyone else panics.”

“Wow, thanks for taking the pressure off me, Cat,” Adora laughed, rolling her eyes. “Awfully big help.”

“I’m serious, you glittery dummy!”

“Hey, I thought I was the glowing princess brat?”

“You’re an ass is what you are.”

“Language!”

Catra hissed and growled something Adora wasn’t sure was even any sort of word and she snorted.

“Okay, okay, I’ll talk to the others. Happy?”

“Hmmmm... no,” deadpanned Catra with a flick of her tail and a smirk.

“No...?”

“Because _you_ still need something.”

“And what’s that— hey!” Adora yelped as she was shoved back into the bed, trapped under the blankets.

“A night of actual sleep. And I’m staying right here to make sure you actually get it. No sneaking around for you, princess.” She settled down on top of Adora, laying her head on her chest. Adora rolled her eyes, admitting defeat.

“Fine. You win.”

“I know. I always do.”

**Author's Note:**

> (yes i know i haven't finished my ut fic please don't kill me)


End file.
